After having reassured depositors and investors over the financial solidity of Banco Espírito Santo (“BES”), the Portuguese Central Bank, Banco de Portugal, finally recognized the disastrous situation of the second largest private bank of the country, and on August 3rd decided to apply a resolution measure. The worse situation came out only on July 30th, when BES announced € 1.5 billion higher losses compared to the ones previously disclosed by the bank and its external auditor KPMG.

2014 has so far witnessed a number of UK Companies seeking to return value to their shareholders. Vodafone was the first to start the dance when in January sought approval for an unprecedented £54 billion return to its shareholders (representing approximately 105p per share) as a result of the disposal of its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon for a consideration of $130 billion (£79 billion). Other companies such as Rexam and Compass followed Vodafone’s steps, seeking and obtaining shareholder approval for their respective returns to shareholders. Other UK listed companies sought to return value to their shareholders using alternative means.

On 24th June 2014, the Italian Government approved the so-called “Development Decree”, introducing the possibility to issue multiple voting shares, waiving the principle of “one share – one vote”, so far one of the basis of the Italian market’s legislation.

A month after Nokia’s general meetingtook place (June 17, 2014), Nokia once again hits the headlines. The announce is this time less gleaming, and does not concern a life saving operation.Unfortunately, the ongoing carving up at the past Finnish mobile devices giant continues and Microsoft which has just acquired the company last April, has announced by the voice of his newly appointed CEO, Mr. Nadella, the biggest job cut-off in its history with 18,000 roles to be axed over the next year, of which 12,500 directly concerning Nokia’s devices and service businesses.

At the upcoming EGM of August 1st, Fiat’s shareholders will vote on the migration of the newborn Fiat-Chrysler Group from Italy to the Netherlands. The transaction is structured as a cross-border merger of Fiat SpA with and into its Dutch subsidiary Fiat Investments NV, which will be renamed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (“FCA”). The new group will have the fiscal domicile in the United Kingdom, to pay lower taxes on dividends, and the FCA shares will be listed on the stock markets of New York and Milan. The transaction is very similar to last year’s merger of Fiat Industrial with CNH, which generated the Dutch company CNH Industrial.

The setbacks of the 2nd largest listed Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo (BES) shook the markets: In this listed bank where Crédit Agricole is the second shareholder with 15% of capital and three directors seating on board, we discovered a Madoff style banking management. AfterBNP Paribas was fined by the US regulator earlier this month, this second case (one among many others) is perfectly revealing of the perversions which leads the universal banking model, so praised by the banking lobby over Europe.

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